At last we moved away and Vestné, when we gained the corridor, turned to me.
“That woman has a curious but very common history,” she said. “She believed that charity covered a multitude of sins.”
Vestné laughed and passed along.
From thence we went to another cell, and entering, I saw a woman standing in the middle of the floor. Her eyes were filled with the wild gleam which we on earth call madness. When she saw us she shrank back terrified into the farther corner of the cell. Her breath came in thick gasps, and still she stared at us like some wild creature brought to bay.
Suddenly she flew across the room and caught my arm in her two hands. They were at burning heat.
“Take me away,” she whispered in a voice half-strangled with fear. “Take me away; it keeps coming, coming, coming, and then will touch me. Oh! take me away with you and I will give you everything I have.”
“What is there to fear?” I asked.
“Look,” she said, and pointed on the wall to where the light shone. I saw nothing.
“It is simply the reflection of her own memory,” Vestné affirmed calmly. “She stole another woman’s husband and thought to escape punishment.”
“I couldn’t help it,” the wretched victim interposed, for she had sense enough to hear the words. “I never knew she’d come to ask for him down here. I can’t escape down here; the walls are thick, the doors are barred, and turn which way I will I can’t get out. Oh, God! oh, God!”